48 Hours of Freedom

It’s the weekend. You can spend it hunkered down in your apartment, or you can put on your wellies and enjoy it. Here are some other suggestions for your precious days of total freedom, prepared for you by Boston Daily.

Tonight
AIIIIEEEE! OMG OMG OMG! New Kids on the Block perform at the Garden tonight!

If we didn’t know summer was over, today’s endless downpours and damp air certainly brought the point home. Pick up a steeply discounted designer dress for next summer at Tulle’s Goodbye to Summer Sale.

Looks like the economic crisis is solved, because John McCain says he’s going to attend tonight’s debate. This means that Sosolimited will be Remixing the Presidential Debate live at the ICA.

Love Rent? Then you’ll probably love opera. OperaHub presents A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Opera, a mashup of caberet and musical theater. The best part? Tickets are free.

Saturday
The weather report says tomorrow is going to be just as miserable as today. Instead of hopping from bar to bar to get your beer fix, sample hundreds of brews at the Belgian Beer Festival at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Not a fan of beer? We bet (har har) you’ll be happier at the Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival. More than 50 food and wine experts will host seminars and cooking demonstrations.

NKOTB isn’t the only big show in town this weekend. Built to Spill, the Meat Puppets, and Dinosaur Jr. bring their influential guitar freak-outs to the Orpheum.

Soulja Boy? Chamillionaire? Who are these people? Apparently, they matter to today’s college students since they’ll be performing at CollegeFest. God, we feel so old.

Sunday
Pie is like pizza (or sex)—even when it’s bad, it’s not that bad. Sample winning and losing pies and work off the calories during the cider run the the Shelburne Orchards’ Pie Fest and Cider Run.

Take a break from worrying about the economy to pretend you live in a mansion. The Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival features 150 vintners and celebrity chefs like Ming Tsai and Mary Ann Esposito.

Judging by the save the dates that have been flooding our mailbox, it seems that many couples are in the midst of wedding planning. The Original Wedding Expo brings together vendors from florists to tuxedo shops to help you prepare for the big day.

Economic downturn be damned—you need to get a mani-pedi. It’s for charity. MiniLuxe will donate $5 from every nail service (and 10 percent of every retail purchase) to breast cancer research.

Need more ideas on fun activities? Check our event listings, or subscribe to our weekly newsletters. Find out what’s going on by opening your inbox, and live a better life.